While it is always a good western some Rawhide episodes were truly outstanding, sometimes Eric Fleming was almost scary hard and focused, a grit that we don’t see from modern actors and roles.
Something that no one mentions, is that Rawhide was also a kind of western Twilight Zone, with many spooky mysteries and supernatural plots.
Rawhide was one of my favorite westerns, but remember they used to have to churn out 39 episodes a year for many of those shows. So after a few years I'm sure the writers of all those westerns had exhausted about every plot possibility. You can only have so many stories about the drovers fighting Indians, or saving Indians, preventing lynchings, ex-drovers out for revenge on Rowdy or Gil Favor for what happened during the war, bank robbers, etc. So they probably delved into weirder topics just to keep from going crazy.
The Blue Fire refers to St. Elmo's fire which is a strange weather phenomenon when there is a blue light around objects. The ending scene features Lucky chasing the stampeding herd during a lightning storm. He is hit by lightning but even after being struck by lightning he still stays on his horse rounding up the cattle until they quiet down. He was rounding up the cattle even after he had died. It is a truly memorable scene and to me, it is reminiscent of the scene in the movie El Cid in which El Cid is tied to his horse after his death and rides out to fight the Moors.
I love Rawhide because it is about the mystery of the elements and man and animals struggling to survive. It is mystical for that reason. One of my favorite movies is “Moby Dick”, the 1956 version with Gregory Peck. It has the same theme of the mystery of nature, life and death.